REALLY dumb dog!

Boomer is my DIL's mixed breed mutt. She told me he is not all that bright but he is really lovable. I keep him locked up far from the house at night because he feels it is his responsibility to comment on everything that happens all night around the house. He barks at everything and even nothing sometimes. You would think he had an opinion about this when I went to let him out this AM. IF he knew it was there, he wasn't saying anything about it! Fortunately I saw it before I stepped on it. It never made a move or rattled. I suspect he lives...with his buddies...under the barn which is about 6 feet away to the left. Gunner, his roommate did bark once but he has been snake broke and is really afraid of Rattlers. Last week Dusty exited the back door to find out what the dogs were barking at and narrowly missed a bite. A snake larger than this one was at the back door waiting...We get up often at night to keep the pigs out of the dog food. This week they moved the latched cargo box full of dog food out onto the lawn and popped the latches....without hurting the box! Still don't know how they did that. Now I put the dog food on top of the kennel at night. So far they haven't figured how to get it down. I was catching the snakes to release elsewhere but my grand kids were getting to fascinated with the captured critters....not something that was very popular with Sweetie. At least it keeps things interesting.

Why am I still here?

I was reminded this morning of a curious event that happened near 30 years ago. I had instructed a teenager (who had to serve time with me for some modest infraction) to dig a hole to put a pole in the ground for a new volley ball court we were building. He was a really good worker and made great progress until he got down about 30 inches. Some "roots" were blocking his progress, try as he might. I remember laying on the sand and extending my right arm full length to the bottom of the hole and feeling three smooth intertwined roots, each about as big around as my finger. I felt a nick in one root and what felt to me like a metal cable inside. A sinking feeling came over me that it was not a root but a buried electrical cable. I carefully got up and back on dry ground and saw that at the end of the volley ball court was an electric pole that had a big cable come down the pole and disappear into the ground. I felt really fortunate that we....since we were still alive....hit the ground line instead of the power line. I let the water in the hole dry out and indeed the nick had exposed the metal inside the cable. After it all dried out I cleaned it out and used some 50 year silicone and pipe to seal it up. Everything was fine...for about 12 years. The power in the main church building started to act funny and the air conditioners were not working. The Electric company determined there was a problem in the buried line connecting to the building. I remember advising the repairman to begin his search for the break where I had repaired the line years before. He listened to my story and dug where I suggested. Sure enough, my old repair, good as it was, did not account for the moisture in the line that I had sealed in. Over the years it had corroded the metal into powder. He went to the pole to disconnect the power but I told him it was safe, it was just the ground wire that was harmed. He shocked me when he objected saying NO it is a hot line. There is NO ground cable on this three wire cable! I told him when I discovered it and fixed it we were in WATER. Why were we not electrocuted? His dead pan response was "I don't know, You should have been....electricity sometimes does funny things". I don't know if there is a natural explanation to my good fortune or a supernatural one, but I do know that I was protected. Today Paul's reminder "you are not your own, you have been bought with a price" rings very clear. Not only did Jesus literally die to demonstrate his love for me, but he has saved me....litterally...several times in my life from what should have or at least could have been certain death. That memory makes it easier for me right now with all the uncertainty that surrounds me and the future. I know I can trust Him with whatever comes my way. I hope you know that too.